1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for yaw steering of a spacecraft, i.e. for satellites, space stations, and the like. Moreover the present invention relates to the basic idea that temporal characteristics of the acceleration about a yaw axis are continuous for all sun elevation angles β, which is defined as the angle of the sun above an orbital plane of the spacecraft as shown in FIG. 1.
2. Discussion of Background Information
State of the art methods only provide a yaw steering for high sun elevation angles β and do not provide any yaw steering for low or zero elevation angles at all or they show a discontinuous temporal behavior of the acceleration about the yaw axis. Such state of the art methods are disclosed in Barker L., Stoen J.: “Sirius satellite design: The challenges of the Tundra orbit in commercial spacecraft design”, Guidance and Control 2001, Proceedings of the annual AAS Rocky Mountain conference, 31 Jan. 2001, p. 575–596.